"We have a number of safety concerns," the mayor and wife Renata wrote to the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority on Friday.

Citing concerns about late-night trespassers, Mayor Rob Ford and his wife, Renata, have asked the regional conservation authority to sell them a slice of the park they live beside so they can build a fence around their house.

“Our primary concern is the safety of Douglas and Stephanie, our two young children, having a secure area to play. The addition of this parcel of land to our property would allow us to install a better security fence that will help to enhance the safety of our children,” the Fords wrote in a joint Friday letter to the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority’s executive committee.

The request is unusual. Anyone can ask the TRCA to sell land, but only one or two residents per year do so, says director of finance and business services James Dillane.

The property, located in the Humber River valley but not in its flood plain, is about 2,800 square feet — 56 feet by 50 feet. While the Fords referred to it as “a vacant parcel of land” in the letter, Dillane said it is actually a sliver of parkland that includes mature trees and is managed by the city’s parks department.

“James Gardens, a City of Toronto park, backs onto our property. Edenbridge Centre, the city-operated recreation facility, is also next to our home. We have a number of safety concerns, as we have encountered youth encroaching on our property late at night on a number of occasions,” the Fords wrote in the letter.

The mayor, a former TRCA board member, signed his name “Rob Ford,” signaling that he was making the request as a resident and not in his official capacity.

Ford, whose sister’s ex-boyfriend was charged with breaking into his house in January, has until now declined to take visible security precautions. His kept his address in the phone book even after he received death threats, and he has dismissed friends’ advice to accept a security detail.

The Fords did not explain why they believe buying the land would make them safer. Their backyard is already fully fenced.

The 12-member TRCA executive — which includes fourToronto councillors — will decide at a meeting Friday whether to reject the proposal outright or to send it to TRCA staff for study, as is likely.

The 28-member TRCA board, half of whose members are appointed by the city and half by other GTA cities and towns, would make the make final decision to sell. The sale price would be determined by an appraisal.

Dillane said the mayor will get no special privileges from TRCA staff. Markham Deputy Mayor Jack Heath, a member of the TRCA executive, also said he would treat the request like any other.

“When I’m there, I’m wearing the hat of the TRCA — is this in the best interest of conservation, is this in the best interest of flood control? And if it is not, if there’s a problem, then obviously we shouldn’t sell it. If it just happens to be surplus land, then we should at least look at it,” Heath said.

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